1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for customizing a printer driver and a technique related thereto.
2. Background Art
Some printer drivers can be customized by their administrators. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-040002 (Patent Document 1) discloses a technique for fixing the settings of some setting items on a printer driver, using a program for customizing a printer driver (also referred to as the “customization program”). To be more specific, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for fixing a specific setting item (e.g., “Print Type”) at a specific setting (e.g., “Two-Sided Printing”) in accordance with operation input from an administrator (in other words, preventing the specific setting item from being changed to a setting other than the specific setting). For example, when the setting item “Print Type” on a printer driver is fixed to “Two-Sided Printing”, print processing in an image forming apparatus is always executed with the setting “Two-Sided Printing,” and thus it is possible to reduce the cost of printing such as paper.
Meanwhile, there is a plurality of settings of different setting items that cannot be used in combination (hereinafter, “prohibited settings” or “prohibited conditions”) due to functional limitations and/or the specifications of the apparatus. In other words, there are prohibited conditions concerning prohibited combinations of a plurality of settings.
When a specific setting item on a printer driver is fixed at a specific setting, there can possibly be a setting that is in a prohibited relationship with the specific setting. For example, when the setting item “Print Type” is fixed at “Two-Sided Printing,” relatively small paper (e.g., “A6” size paper) cannot be used, and as a result, settings such as “A6” of a setting item “Paper Size” become prohibited settings.
In view of this, Patent Document 1 described above discloses a technique used in a printer driver for graying out (disabling) options corresponding to settings that are unavailable due to prohibition processing (settings that meet prohibited conditions). In other words, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for preventing settings that are in a prohibited relationship with the specific setting of the specific setting item fixed upon receipt of an instruction to fix the specific setting item (fixing instruction) from being selected on setting screens of the printer driver.
Incidentally, in situations where a printer driver is customized by an administrator as described above, it is preferable for the administrator to know settings that are in a prohibited relationship with a specific setting item fixed at a specific setting (settings of different setting items from the specific setting item). In other words, it is preferable for the administrator to know settings in the printer driver that are made unavailable upon receipt of the fixing instruction.
However, in the case of using the technique of Patent Document 1 described above, normally, the administrator customizes a printer driver using the aforementioned customization program and then distributes the customized printer driver to users of the printer driver. At last the users of the printer driver know the presence of settings that are made unavailable as a result of fixing processing (customization processing) at the stage of using the printer driver. In other words, the administrator or the like who has customized the printer driver cannot know settings that will be made unavailable as a result of fixing processing, at the stage before the printer driver is used.